New Marketing Trends

Marketing Ideas for Non-Profits and Libraries

The M Word helps librarians learn about marketing trends and ideas.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Top reasons why messages are shared

My family is a two screen family. We watch TV as a family but then each of us have our own screen, either an iPad or laptop, that offers us individual distractions . We are so bad that we will even pass our screens when we want the others to see what we are watching (during commercials of course!). Guess that would be called "reality viral" or something like that.

We live in a world where virtual sharing has become part of our basic communication routines. My sisters are constantly sending emails with funny or sad stories or links to videos. My nieces share photos through Facebook and my friends are using fourquare and Facebook to let me know where they are and what they are thinking. The list goes on and on.... we live in a viral world.

As marketers, we are faced with the challenge of tapping into those networks in order to get our messages heard. The most important factor to remember is to keep it short. Edit those videos- keep them at 30 seconds. Keep your stories to one paragraph not one page. Be entertaining, interesting or funny. No one shares boring news. I just read a great post from Social Times that outlines the 7 reasons why people share content with their social networks.

1. Laughter
2. Inspiration
3. Cuteness
4. Originality
5. Shock
6. Surprise
7. Nostalgia

I think that's a good list. What's working for your library?

1 comment:

Dan Nieman said...

I would add these three things.
1. Ask good questions to promote discussion.
2. Be relevant. The news cycle on any given social media platform 15 minutes at a maximum.
3. Be aware of what your community is discussing and be aware of trending topics.
Interact with your community's comments.